Tidbits - December 15, 2016 - Reader Comments: Global Nuclear War Danger; Clinton and Working Class Voters; Star Wars; The Left - What Now; Russian-Election Frenzy; Butter; #NoDAPL Actions; Cuba Travel; Holiday Book Offers; and more ...

Portside
Reader Comments: Global Nuclear War Danger - Avoiding the Unthinkable; Hillary Clinton and Working Class Voters; Art as Politics: Star Wars New Movie; What Now for the Left; Viewers debate the Russian-Election Frenzy; Brazil; W.E.B. DuBois and the Working Class; Student Digital Literacy and Technology; Butter - Good for You?; #NoDAPL December Month of Actions; Responsible and Ethical Cuba Travel; Special - Holiday Book Offers; and more ...

Trump's Victory Is a Wake-Up Call to the Left; Lesson for Democrats: Back to Class

Lynn Koh; Jeff Faux In These Times
Did we do enough in 2016? And how can we build a broader electoral movement? I don't believe the Left bears the brunt of the blame for Hillary Clinton's defeat, and I reject arguments that try to score political points through guilt-tripping. Both long-term and short-term factors worked against a Clinton victory. Trump is not Reagan; 2016 is not 1980. But both elections were lost by tone-deaf Democratic elites who dismissed the economic anxieties of the working class.

labor

The Dangerous Myth That Hillary Clinton Ignored The Working Class

Derek Thompson The Atlantic
The author says Hillary Clinton talked about the working class constantly. She had plans to help coal miners and steelworkers. She had plans to help those getting out of prison get jobs. She promoted clean energy jobs and spoke of the dignity of manufacturing jobs. The author argues that white Trump voters might just have been more interested in his attacks against Muslims and Hispanics.

Russian Propaganda Effort Helped Spread ‘Fake News’ During Election, Experts Say

Craig Timberg Washington Post
There is no way to know whether Russian 'fake news' efforts proved decisive in electing Trump, but researchers say it was part of a broadly effective strategy. The tactics included penetrating the computers of election officials and releasing troves of hacked emails that embarrassed Clinton in the final months of her campaign.

books

Winning at Russian Roulette

Scott McLemee Inside Higher Ed
McLemee looks at 30 academic studies of Hillary Clinton, finding interest in her focusing either as a user of some form of communication media or as an object of media representation. Like the campaign's news coverage, where personality trumped policy, research tended to focus on how Clinton challenged or was constrained by traditional female roles or implicit assumptions about the proper connect between public and private identity than in her work as a public official.

Democracy, Trade, Globalization and Trump

Thomas Piketty; Naomi Klein The Guardian (UK)
Rising inequality is largely to blame for this electoral upset. Continuing with business as usual is not an option. People have lost their sense of security, status and even identity. This result is the scream of an America desperate for radical change. People have a right to be angry, and a powerful, intersectional left agenda can direct that anger where it belongs. Thomas Piketty and Naomi Klein offer up interesting analysis.

Tidbits - November 17, 2016 - Reader Comments: Analyzing a Very Close Election; What Now, What Next?; Revenge of the Forgotten Class; Announcements: and more...

Portside
Reader Comments: Analyzing a Very Close Election; What Now, What Next?; Revenge of the Forgotten Class - What Impacted How White Workers Voted?; A Message from the Past for us Today - from A.J. Muste; Announcements: 2016 Election Debrief; Announcing the AltoTrump.com Website; The Spanish Civil War & the Abraham Lincoln Brigade: 80 Years Later; Puerto Rico: Facts and Realities of Living Under PROMESA; Clemency for Leonard Peltier - week of actions; and more...

Welcome to the Fight

D.D. Guttenplan The Nation
If we withdraw into our grief and abandon those most threatened by Trump's win, history will never forgive us. These are the times that try men's souls-and women's, too. It is time to summon everyday massive nonviolent civil disobedience on a scale not seen in this country for decades. The next four years will test our country-and our movement-like nothing else we have seen in our lifetimes. Welcome to the fight.

How Do I Tell My Daughter that America Elected a Racist, Sexist Bully?

Jessica Valenti The Guardian (UK)
My six-year-old fell asleep thinking Hillary Clinton would be the first female president. Now I have to explain to her why Donald Trump was chosen instead. The truth is that this shameful election result was backlash, pure and simple - a reaction to women's growing rights, racial progress and a cultural shift that no longer centers straight white men.

Friday Nite Videos -- November 4, 2016

Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton. Epic Rap Battles of History. NC NAACP Wins Major Voting Rights Case. "Michael Moore in TrumpLand" & the Sound of Dying Dinosaurs. Jon Stewart's Twitter Fight With Donald Trump. Police Violently Attack Protesters At Standing Rock.
Subscribe to Hillary Clinton